Baby Potatoes make Perfect Appetizers

Its that time of the year, were everyone is frantically looking for quick and easy to make recipes for Iftar. Yes, Ramadan is here, the part of the year that I look forward to, the most. Fasting for 30 days brings great discipline and control not only on what you eat, but also on your thoughts – no bad/evil/terrible thoughts, your eyes – on what you see, your ears – what you hear, your mouth – what you speak – no gossiping/no lying, your actions – don’t do anything wrong. Its the time to reach out to your soul, to rethink, to be at peace and to be pure. To be generous, help the needy and do as much good as you can. Technically our creator wished for us to be like this at all times … But it wasn’t a easy task to keep up to – given Satan was working overtime. So it was decided to do so for a month. Thats the least we can do. So come tomorrow all shall fast, and another good thing that comes with the Fasting is the Feasting. At Iftar – fast breaking time, the table is so wonderfully spread … with fruits, soups, salads, snacks, fried delicacies, kebabs, light meals, pots of rice, sweets … anything that your heart desires and pockets can afford. Most of the food is prepared beforehand and kept ready. These baby potatoes are something you can very easily make with ingredients lying around the house . They keep well, so all you have to do it warm it up a little before serving. A bag of potatoes usually has about 20 tiny ones. In here I’ve used a chilli sauce I picked up when I was in China. It mostly consisted of a lot of chilli oil, but the other good bits were lovely aromatic chopped chillis, peanuts, small cubes of fried tofu and sichuan peppercorn. I’ve even made these potatoes in other chunky chilli sauces on different occasions and each time they turn out just as beautiful. The point being, don’t feel restricted to any one ingredient. Feel free to use whatever you have at hand. Taste as you go just to get the balance of flavours right.

Ingredients

1 bag of baby potatoes – boiled in salted water

3 tablespoons chunky chilli sauce

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

3-4 tablespoons tomato ketchup

1 tsp freshly cracked pepper

salt to taste

1-2 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon chopped ginger and garlic

1 red pepper chopped into small cubes

1 green pepper chopped into small cubes

corriander to garnish

Start with boiling the potatoes in salted water. Once done strain and prick them a couple of times all over with a toothpick or kebab stick. This will help the flavours seep in. In a wok or non stick frying pan, heat the oil and add the ginger garlic. Fry till fragrant and add the peppers. Further fry for about 30 seconds and then toss in the potatoes. Fry them till a little crispy and coloured. Now add the sauces and seasoning, and giving them a good stir, making sure all the potatoes are coated well. Taste them to make any adjustments if you have to. Add the corriander and serve warm with toothpicks to pick them.